Renewed talks for Sweden-Norway power link

A proposal to improve power grid connections between Sweden and Norway has been revived. Bloomberg reported on that grid operators from the two Nordic nations are amid talks to move forward with the installation of a 1,400-megawatt power cable linking Oslo and Stockholm. The proposal, dubbed the Sydvaestlaenken project (Southwest Link), was first introduced in 2008. Officials aimed to have the project up and running as early as this year, although the effort has seen a series of setbacks.

Svenska Kraftnaet director general Mikael Odenberg told Bloomberg, “The cable was, until recently, planned for 2019, although Statnett have now said they’d like an unspecified delay, prompting us in turn to set a completion time frame of 2018 to 2022.”

Similarly, Gunnar G Loevas, executive vice president of Norway’s Statnett, said, “We are trying to establish a mutual understanding for joint solutions that benefit both countries, and need to review things.”

Mr Loevas went on to add that the two organisations are aiming to table a revised version of the proposal “within a few months”.

Experts say the project is part of a wider effort to boost reliability and pricing structures in the grid powering the southern part of the two countries. The region is commonly plagued by disruptions and transmission bottlenecks.